Coassement de La Grenouille
Journal of the Milice de Ste. Famille
January
2000 Volume 12 No. 1
Bon jour, mon amis
Well, it is
the start of a new year, a new century?
What ever.
I hope this year can be as
exciting as the past one. December
brought us a good time at Kimmswick and at Jefferson Barracks (even though your
Capt. was the only one who camped all weekend). We saw several people
from Kimmswick at the Christmas at the Barracks weekend. They were very pleased with our
caroling. I mentioned we might be
available for a camp weekend demonstration.
Nothing has been discussed or decided.
I found some hooks we can use to make lantern carriers for our next
caroling adventure. That way Tom Connor and I can stand in the
back and light those who can sing.
Frog Talk is in place. I will have a schedule at the January
meeting at Fort de Chartres on
the 15th. The meeting will be at 10 a.m. as
usual. Bring something to add to the
evening meal (a side dish) the Milice
is furnishing the meat.
I have an idea I would like to
see the Milice work into. I think we
should try to have a more
1st person
attitude. I know this is very hard to
do on a full time bases, but I think we can work it into
our everyday
portrayal at events. Bring any ideas
you have to the January meeting and we can
work from
there.
Thanks to Joyce Matson for a
great location for the December meeting.
Thanks to Dennis
Lybarger for
arranging the Kimmswick Christmas carolling.
Thanks to Lynn Cornelius for a great newsletter. Thanks to everyone for your confidence in me
to lead this fine group.
If you have an e-mail address,
please get it to Lynn. It makes a quick
way to contact a lot of
people, and
Lynn is working on sending the newsletter electronically.
I hope everyone can make it to
12th Night in Prairie du Rocher on Jan 8.
Captain Orval
Banfield,
Master of the Bluenose II, will be there.
He gave us a great sailing adventure in Nova Scotia.
It is quite an
honor to have him here. We need to show
him how the French party. (like he doesn't know).
Until later,
I am your most
humble servant,
John Mefford,
Capt.
Results of
Elections
Captain - John
Mefford
1st Sargent -
Gail Cornelius
2nd Sargent -
Tom Connor
Secretary -
John Massey
Treasurer -
Lyle Cubberly
Board of
Directors - Lynn Cornelius
Joyce Matson
Gary Driver
WANTED
Wanted - small empty plastic
medicine bottles. The small vitamin,
aspiring, etc., round pill bottles are
perfect. They measure about 1-9/16"
dia. by 2-1/2". The limiting size
is the diameter 1-5/8" max. When
in doubt, bring them, and I will sort them out.
It so happens that these are the
correct size for my cannon. Once the
bottles are filled with concrete, they will be perfect projectiles. I will appreciate your help.
Your friend,
Sincerely,
Jim Chestney
Frog talk 2000 will be April 29
& 30 at the Fort de Chartres. This
year I have been promoted to
head
beggar. Please donate something for the
auction. Each year, your support has
brought in enough
money to cover
expenses. Master beggar Tom Connor has
volunteered to send letters at the national
level. We asked local businesses for donations a few
years ago. Let's try that again. If you know someone in business and your
feel comfortable asking, request donations or gift certificates.
Negations are in process for
booking the same auctioneers as last year, the firm of Duwee,
Cheetum and
Howe. They are asking that their fee
for the auction be doubled. We are
offering a generous
two percent
increase. Hopefully the details can be
settled in time.
Jim Chestney
(Editor's note
- see the following letter for an update on the dispute with the auction
company)
Open letter to the membership of
the Milice De. Ste. Famille from the law firm of Wefleeceum.
Representation
by Senior Partners - Mr. Takkem, Mr. Steelem, Mr. Lyinn, and Mr. Disbarred.
Dear membership, on behalf of
the prestigious Auction Company of Duwee, Cheetum and
Howe, our
company has entered into arbitration relative to contract negotiations with
your committee. We believe it is
important that we communicate the actual position of our clients to insure that
facts of
the
negotiations are our in the open, and fully understood by the total Milice De.
Ste. Famille. membership.
As a bit of background, it
should be understood that the past success of your fund raising auctions
is directly
related to our client's capability and background in auction management. Their professional
abilities
coupled with the genuine dedication to insuring customer satisfaction and the
success of the past
auctions speak
for themselves. The Auction Company of
Duwee, Cheetum and Howe is known around the world as the leading Auction
Company represent re-enacting organizations.
Our clients are asking for a paltry 50% increase great than was paid to
them last year. Your committee
representatives are offering
a 2%
increase. This offer is not only
unacceptable but also somewhat insulting to the professional standings of our
clients. We believe a middle ground of
39-40% increase would be acceptable to our clients.
Our clients are dedicated to
your group and its mission. We need t
come to closure on this
negotiation to
allow planning to begin to insure the success of your future auction. Several times we have
attempted to
communicate with your committee members. Each time we were met with closed minds and
less than a
sense of urgency towards closure of the negotiations. We will continue in our drive to communicate with your committee
members. Please be advised that the
scheduling for the auctions to be held in the year 2000 by our clients is well
under way. It is incumbent that your
committee act in a an open-minded way to complete the negotiations to insure
the availability of our clients for your auction.
Thank you
(S) Roscoe C.
Lyinn
Roscoe C.
Lyinn,
Senior
Partner,
Wefleeceum Law Firm
314) 238 -
bite
Annapolis,
Maryland
On Monday, Oct 25, 1999, the last surviving Liberty
Tree, a 400-plus-year-old tulip poplar, having survived explosions, hurricanes,
and lightning, had to be cut down after Hurricane Floyd put a 15 foot crack in
its trunk, making it a hazard to all around it.
The tree, which was located on
the campus of St. John's College only a short distance from the
Maryland State
House, was the site of meetings by Colonists to protest the Stamp Act, and
other policies of the Crown Government.
The Liberty Tree became a powerful symbol of the resistance to the
King's
laws and of
the rebel cause. For 200 years, St.
John's had held its commencement ceremonies beneath the
spreading
limbs of the ancient tree which had surpassed the typical lifespan of a tulip
poplar by more than
100 years.
Such trees became popular
throughout the colonies, and the power of their imagery was not lost on the
British. When the Crown troops occupied
Boston, they lost no time in chopping down that town's Liberty Tree, a huge
elm. It yielded some 14 cords of wood,
which went into the troop's campfires.
In Charleston, S.C., the Liberty
Tree was a huge Oak. It was chopped
down and the stump burned in order to eliminate any trace of it. The rebels had the last laugh, however, as
they dug up the roots of the tree, and carved the pieces into heads for
canes. One such cane was even presented
to Thomas Jefferson.
During the Late Unpleasantness,
Federal soldiers were encamped around the tree. Some prankster set off a black powder blast, which, ironically,
may have helped to slow down the internal rot that had beset the tree. In later years, the portion of the trunk
which had rotted out was filled with cement, and cables were installed to brace
the tree.
The damage from Hurricane Floyd
proved to be the last straw. The tree
was now in danger of falling down, and to prevent this, the difficult decision
to remove it was made.
Happily, not all is lost. A seed from the original tree was planted
100 yards away in 1889, and it
is expected
that the college commencement ceremonies will be moved there next year. In an effort to
provide new
trees for planting not only in Annapolis, but in the other 12 original states,
the stump of the tree will be left and carefully tended, in the hope that it
will produce shoots suitable to make cuttings,
which when
planted, will produce new trees which will be, in effect, genetic duplicates of
the original.
Respectfully
submitted,
Ian Anderson,
surgeon 33d Foot
Californian by
chance, Murlander by choice.
November at
the Fort - Bathing
Caveman
(people) would bathe when they tripped, stumbled or fell into a lake or
river. The
Romans had
elaborate public bathing buildings. The
water was heated and washing became almost a social event. The higher classes had their own private
bath houses, of course. The Turks
enjoyed a good steam bath. They would
sit in a heated room and pour water on hot rocks to create steam. The heat and steam would make them sweat
profusely to cleanse the body. The
Swedish went one step father. After
melting in a steam bath, they ran outside and fell down on the snow and rolled
around This would definitely cause a
rating of ten on the pucker scale. Good
old Ben Franklin would sit nude in front of an open window. He called this an air bath. You may wonder what his neighbors called
it. Soldiers of the 1900's had to wash
out of their helmets. People confined to
bed were given sponge baths.
Joyce Matson joins the group of
Milice and stands between Rich Kroener and Ron Stellhorn. She says, who would have guessed that the
weather would be this nice on the 13th of November. She went on to say; it is so warm that I just had a spit bath. After a short pause, Rich looks at Ron, and
Ron looks at Rich, then they stood up and moved away from Joyce. What is a spit bath? Never mind!!!
(Contributed
by Jim Chestney)
From our
Friends in Canada we have been able to receive the following advise, which I am
sure will benefit us all.
Advice from
Pierre
My Friends it is with great
pleasure I find a place in your news letter.
The winter she is hard here in
Canada, and I take most pride in being able to share with you the thoughts
of myself, Jock, and Luke as we sit near the fire. We shoots a moose today are our bellies are full. As we share a bottle of Luke's home made
juice we grow very creative. So here
are a few of the items peoples have asked us about and our answers.
From Quick shot ---
Pierre, many times I find that my musket she goes off too soon. I have tried to fix the lock and have used a
heavy lube to slow the action down. I
still find that during tense times it still goes off when I does not want it
to. What can I do? I have loosed many moose this way.
Dear Quick Shot. ---
You is in good hands here both Luke and Jock are having the same
problems. I my self have never had that
problem, but sometime I have come close.
What Luke and Jock do is to practice a lot. They tell me the more they practice the better they are at
holding the shot. So my advice to you
is to get out of the cabin and practice.
Hope that helps. If not try
trapping, you does not need your musket for this. Just keep your thumbs out of the way.
Well, I must go. Luke hs just
opened another bottle and our friend Shortly is at the door. We are in for a good time tonight I
thinks. Until next time, remember
during the winter when you goes out side be sure to clear all the clothes out
of the way first.
Pierre
PS Does you has somebody in your group that tells stories about
candles and how long they burn??? If
so, keep a close eye on him.
Winter Candles
The weather sure was
beautiful. It was warm, and there was
not a cloud in the sky. John Mefford,
Jim Klein, and I were relaxing around a three lantern camp fire. Just as we finished solving most of the
world problems, John's candle burned out. He installed another and lit it. The conversation turned to the stars, as you
know one of my favorite topics, but just the Jim's candle went dark. It got replaced, and our attention returned
to the heavens. John told us that his
daughter has a star named after her.
The star is located in the constellation of Orion. It is the small star a little east of
Orion's belt. Well, as luck would have
it, Orion was rising through the trees to the East. We had to get up and move for a better view, but sure enough,
there was her star. As a bonus for
getting up, we even saw a Meteor. Upon
returning to our chairs, we found that my candle had burned out. Imagine that, all three candles had burned
to extinction before 11:00.
John said, "You know, these
candles did not seem to last very long."
Jim and I agreed that they did not, and we said, but it is winter
time. It seems that candles to not burn
as long in cold weather. Light a candle
this time of year when the sky gets dark, and you are lucky if it burns until
11:00. This does not make sense. So, we grabbed another can of milk, and we
began to ponder the question. How can
this phenomena happen? After much
consideration, we concluded the following hypothesis.
Obviously, cold temperature
causes the candle wax to contract. The
candle is then much smaller, and of course, it will not burn as long. There is another effect of being
shrunk. The energy in the wax is now
concentrated which creates a very hot flame, and this causes the candle to burn
like it is super charged, faster.
Oxygen supports combustion, and
the more oxygen the hotter the flame.
That is why blowing on a camp fire causes it to burn hotter. The atmosphere is composed of about twenty-four
percent oxygen. The cold air of the
Winter is contracted: thus there is more oxygen per cubit foot. The consolidated air causes the candle to
burn with an accelerated rate.
Gravity has a strong effect on
the candle's flame. As you know gravity
keeps the flame from growing very tall.
The earth is closest to the sun during the winter. The sun's enormous gravity weakens the
earth's gravitational effect on the flame.
This allows the flame to burn much higher which is hotter, and the candle
burns faster.
Barbara Cubberly asked, could
they burn at the same rate, but the nights are longer?
We considered the idea for a
moment ------ NAAAAAAAA, no way! So, we
rambled on about there being more UFOs in the winter and spilled UFO fuel.
Your friend,
Jim Chestney
Was there a
movie star at the November woods walk?
As we sat around the fire on
Friday night, many friends came up to share the warmth and a glass. We all were very happy to see old friends and
especially happy that the weather was the best for a November shoot that any
one could remember. Through the
darkness came the reflection of eyes glowing in the firelight. All conversation stopped and all stared at
the strange figure that had approached the comfort of our fire. We all looked at each other and tried not to
look at the glowing eyes as they moved from person to person. The cloak hid most of the face except for
the eyes. Suddenly the person spoke and
we all came to the same conclusion - it was Marty Fieldman the actor from the
movie Young Frankenstein! We all looked
quickly to see the hump. Only Dog had
enough courage to speak. "Where is
the hump?" he asked. "What
hump?" was the reply. With that
the person quietly turned away and walked into the night. How did Marty Fieldman get to the fort you
ask? We the next time your see the OLE
Gunner you might ask him.
Respectfully
submitted by - Musket
PS: Remember - it's not where you place, it's
who you beat, Lyle!!
Why do people
who curse sometimes apologize by saying "pardon my French?"
The French are said to be a
nation of great lovers and wine drinkers. One might think, therefore,
that their
mouths would be too preoccupied with smooching and imbibing to do much
cursing. But there must be some good
reason why talking dirty is linked to speaking French. It can't just be because they say "Sacre bleu!".
As they say in English,
"it's all in the eye of the beholder." The Tommys and Yanks who went to France to fight World War I came
from countries whose cultures were still largely Victorian while the French
were, shall we say, more advanced. The
young soldiers brought back some pretty liberated attitude -- also a certain
kind of postcard; new kissing styles; and assorted, er, recreational objects,
all described as "French."
Henceforth, even to this day, French became synonymous with risque.
(Don't tell me you don't know
what a Tommy is. It's slang for a
British soldier, derived from "Tommy Atkins", which came from
"Thomas Atkins", a generic name frequently used on sample army
forms.)
From "Who
Put the Butter in Butterfly?" by David Feldman